By David Williamson. Ensemble Theatre, Sydney. Director: Mark Kilmurry. 14 February – 9 April 2020
The Ensemble Theatre is packed to the gunnels. Its favourite son, the writer David Williamson, author of over 50 plays, 24 plays staged here, watches as the lights come up on the very last, Crunch Time. After 50 years of play writing, this is officially the end, finis, the final curtain. He put down his pen 11 months ago ‘and I haven’t missed it one little bit’.
Adelaide Fringe. The Sky Room at The Griffins Hotel. 19 February - 1 March, 2020.
On arriving at Eh Canadian Comedy Dream to see British Columbian comedian Alex Mackenzie, I expected a show about Canada- its quirks, its funny ways and to be opened up to the comedy of the country. It was evident that the others in the audience had come with the same expectation.
By Duncan Macmillan. Adelaide Fringe. The Bus Stop. 18 Feb - 21 Feb, 2020.
I rarely leave my living room to go to the theatre in a living room, but Every Brilliant Thing is just what the name describes. Beginning its life as a short story by Englishman Duncan Macmillan and now performed by Canadian Michael Torontow, it is the story of one troubled boy becoming a man, one whose whole life is spent dealing with depression and suicide. Sounds miserable, but this artful monologue is entertaining, uplifting, informative and deeply insightful.
By Oscar Wilde. Adapted by Jon Haynes, Jude Kelly & David Woods. Merlyn Theatre, The Malthouse, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank. 14 February – 8 March, 2020.
The ingenuity in this production of Wilde’s most famous farce is not in its re-interpretation of the text but in its capacity to fully expose all the underlying allusions. Jon Haynes and David Woods, renowned for their comedy work with the independent theatre company Ridiculusmus, set themselves an almost impossible task. The two comedy actors take on all the parts in the play, executing some very demanding and often challenging costume and character changes. The result is hilarious, enthralling and induces side-splitting laughter.
By Joondalup Entertainers Theatre School. Directed by Ros Boyer. Musical direction by Chelsea Gibson. The Big Top, Woodside Pleasure Garden, Russel Square, Northbridge, WA. Feb 8-16, 2020
Once Upon A Fractured Fairytale was written and performed by 10-18 year old students of the Joondalup Entertainers Theatre School, and is a bright and complex story of fairytale characters gone awry.
By Moliere, adapted by Liz Lochead. Adelaide Fringe. Ed Littlewood Productions, in assoc. with Holden Street Theatres, Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh & Stephen Dunn Theatre Fund (UK). The Arch, Holden Street Theatres. 18 Feb-15 March, 2020
Moliere’s Tartuffe (or The Hypocrite) was first performed in Paris in 1664 and was one of Moliere’s most successful as well as controversial plays. Subsequently, it is now regarded as one of the greatest ‘classical’ comedies with a relatively constant performance history throughout the world over the past four hundred-odd years.
By Phil Grainger (Music) & Alexander Wright (Lyrics). The Flanagan Collective, Gobbledigook Theatre (UK) and Hartstone-Kitney Productions. Black Box Theatre, Adelaide Botanic Gardens. 18 Feb-14 March, 2020
The Gods, The Gods, The Gods is the thrilling third installment about classical myths by The Flanagan Collective & Gobbledigook Theatre (UK), who have previously wowed Adelaide audiences with their brilliant versions of Orpheus and Eurydice. This time their focus is on the classical Gods themselves, a collection of dubious creatures whose place and meaning in the modern, as well as classical world is brought into question.
Part of Opera Queensland’s Intimate Concert Series. Conservatorium Theatre, Griffith University, South Bank. Friday, February 14, 2020
Hayley Sugars sets out to tell the truth about love in her intimate Opera Queensland recital that kicked off on Valentine’s Day, and it was not all easy listening.
Using her own words as well as those of the masters, she sang her way through tales of first love, secret love, unrequited love, lost love and doomed love.
Adelaide Fringe. Dynamite Lunchbox and Hartstone-Kitney Productions. Black Box Theatre, Adelaide Botanic Garden. February 14 – March 1, 2020.
Josephine Baker had a hit with “J’ai deux amours, (mon pays et Paris)” in France. It says a lot about how this dancer, chanteuse and cause célèbre felt about her place in the world. Born in St. Louis in 1906, Baker arrived in Paris in 1925 to appear in La Revue Nègre.
